Author: vicar

Easter 3 April 26, 2009

Post author By vicar
Post date April 26, 2009

Acts 3:12-19Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

1 John 3:1-7Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Luke 24:36b-48

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It would have been very easy for the first followers of Jesus to have spoken of him simply as a great teacher, a holy man who exemplified everything we should be in our lives. That would have gone down more smoothly in their day, as it certainly does in ours, where many people believe just that. But this is not the Jesus to whom the earliest witnesses testify. They give us this risen Christâ€”a human being crucified, wounded in hands and feet and side, but a human being raised from the dead, a physical presence who ate physical food and whose physical body could be touched, particularly his wounds. A human being who was thus also the Son of God. This resurrection reality is what the first followers insisted upon, what they were persecuted and died for.

Tags discipleship, Incarnation, liturgy, resurrection, witness, Worship, wounds

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Easter 2 April 19, 2009

Post author By vicar
Post date April 25, 2009

The Rt. Rev. Arthur E. Walmsley

Jesus said to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” â€“ John 20:30

I was talking recently with a friend who has for a long time been struggling with her faith. She has for years been alienated from the church in which she grew up. Its preaching and its worship didnâ€™t connect at all to her life. She had stopped trying to pray. And then the bottom fell out of her life. “I suddenly felt as if I had been shipwrecked on a desert island,” she said, “I didnâ€™t know what to think or what to do.” If you havenâ€™t yourself been as wounded by life as she was, you know plenty of people who have.

The story of Easter is about people who were as devastated as my friend.

Tags doubt, Easter, suffering

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Easter Day April 12, 2009

Post author By vicar
Post date April 12, 2009

Acts 10:34-43

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Mark 16:1-8

When I was a little boy our family went to the Unitarian Church. In a lot of ways it was a good religious beginning for me. I learned to love and honor Godâ€™s creation, to respect other people and their beliefs, to value justice and peace, and maybe most of all to appreciate the importance of rational thought. Unitarianism, at least in its American form, grew up with our Nation in the first half of the nineteenth century. It was about casting off the superstitions and hierarchies of the Old World and building a New World based on enlightened values. But one thing we didnâ€™t have at the Unitarian church, at least the one my family went to, was Easter.

Tags Easter, rationalism, resurrection

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Easter Vigil April 11, 2009

Post author By vicar
Post date April 11, 2009

O.T. History of Salvation

Romans 6:3-11

Luke 24:1-12

Around the church tonight is this wonderful series of quilt-style banners depicting the story of Godâ€™s saving work through history. We have six of them now; Nancy Stehno just completed the one over the organ, illustrating a passage from the Book of Proverbs about Wisdom being more precious than gold. Nancy, I hesitate to tell you this, but there are six more we could do, if we draw on both the Episcopal and Revised Common Lectionaries! But, one at a time. Thatâ€™s the way God works, so you can work that way too.

Actually, there could be more than 12 banners. There could be an infinite string of banners, stretching into the future, because God is working out Godâ€™s plan of salvation in every one of our lives, in the world around us, in every event in the newsâ€”even the terrible ones.

Tags baptism, death, Easter Vigil, Exodus, Passover, resurrection, salvation, sin

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Good Friday April 9, 2009

Post author By vicar
Post date April 10, 2009

John 18:1-19:42

We have, of course, four gospel accounts of Jesus: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Early attempts to harmonize the four into a single true or pure gospel were rejected by the Church. There has never been, and there never will be, a single â€œtakeâ€ on this man we call the Son of God.

Tags cross, Good Friday, icons, Passion, St. John

Sermons

Palm Sunday April 5, 2009

Post author By vicar
Post date April 5, 2009
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John 12:12-16Â Â (Palm gospel)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Mark 14:1-15:47Â Â (Passion gospel)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

[At this service, the Holy Cross Youth Group acted out the gospel in dramatic form.]

The Catholic Archbishop of Chicago issued a decree. (Thatâ€™s the sort of thing Catholic Archbishops can do. In the Episcopal Church, bishops have to resort to whining.) The decree said that Palm Sunday Passion dramas could not be done in historic costumes. The reason, Cardinal Bernardin said, is that these things didnâ€™t just happen back then. Theyâ€™re happening now. Though this year weâ€™ve done the Passion drama with some suggestions of costumeâ€”if you have kids doing the drama, you have to have a sword!â€”what weâ€™ve just witnessed (and participated in) is indeed a drama about our life, not just things back then in Jerusalem 2000 years ago.

What is this drama? A French historian and philosopher named RenÃ© Girard has some very helpful insights. The crucifixion of Jesus, he says, is the supreme instance of scapegoating. And scapegoating is an ongoing dramaâ€”even the ongoing drama of human life.

Tags crucifixion, Palm Sunday, Passion, resurrection, scapegoating

Sermons

Lent 5 March 29, 2009

Jeremiah 31:31-34Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

Hebrews 5:5-10Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â

John 12:20-33

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Each of us here this morning has something we must give up, surrender, sacrifice, in order that we might truly live. Itâ€™s something very precious to you, something youâ€™ve held onto fiercely in your deepest soul, for years, maybe all your life. And you donâ€™t want to let go of it. But you must, if you are to be truly free and whole and alive in Jesus Christ.

Tags cross, crucifixion, glory, God, Palm Sunday, sacrifice

People

Meet David Roy

Post author By vicar
Post date March 28, 2009

I guess I would have to be called a cradle Roman Catholic. I came from a family where it was “you better be to church 15 minutes early,” “you better have all the prayers memorized,” and “you better not sneeze or cough while the priest is talking.” As I grew older, church kind of phased out of my life because I already knew all the readings and sermons but it just didnâ€™t seem like it related to me.

Tags David Roy, People

People

Meet Joe Harrington

Post author By vicar
Post date March 28, 2009

I want to say something about the importance of Holy Cross, not just what it is, but what it stands for. I donâ€™t think a person can really live a moral life without hoping that God loves us enough to die for us and wants us to love each other the same way. The only way we can show that we want to live up to that idea together is by attending the Holy Communion and symbolizing that we want to be united in Jesusâ€™s sacrifice. Everybody in the world should be doing that together. I think thatâ€™s what Holy Cross stands for.

Tags Joe Harrington, People

People

Meet Will and Phyllis Townsend

Post author By vicar
Post date March 28, 2009

In the four years we have lived in Weare, Holy Cross has become â€œhomeâ€ to us. Things we relish about Holy Cross include:

Â· The way people have opened their hearts and homes to us.

Â· The fact that worship is taken seriously; it is never just â€œmatter of course.â€ We particularly relish the wonderful music in our worship services

Â· The importance given to the authority of the Bible, striving to understand and interpret its whole message, in contrast to narrow line-by-line or â€œliteralâ€ interpretation.

Â· Father Johnâ€™s stress on Christian Life as a â€œpathway to God.â€

Â· Emphasis upon the one-ness of love-for-God and love-for-neighbors (that is, all of humanity). We appreciate Father Johnâ€™s phraseology that â€œLove for God and love for our neighbors are inextricably intertwined.

Â· The fact that, by choice, Holy Cross is a vital part of the Weare community.

Â· The acceptance of diversity of liturgical practices, such as sitting, standing, kneeling for prayers, diversity of opinions, such as around the issue of sexuality.

We are happy that Holy Cross is â€œhomeâ€ to us!

Tags People, Phyllis Townsend, Will Townsend